Men // Current TV

THE VOICE OF THE MAPUCHE: One People, One Nation, Undivided by the Andes

The Mapuche defeated the Spanish Crown invaders, and do not recognize the border that... more

mab001
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In A Relationship: Dating Sites: Match.com

Steve doesn't have much luck with dating sites.

TonyDiGerolamo
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4 months ago
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The Herbivore's Dilemma - Japan panics about the rise of "grass-eating men"

Ryoma Igarashi likes going for long drives through the mountains, taking photographs of Buddhist temples and exploring old neighborhoods. He's just taken up gardening, growing radishes in a planter in his apartment. Until recently, Igarashi, a 27-year-old Japanese television presenter, would have been considered effeminate, even gay.

Japanese men have long been expected to live like characters on Mad Men, chasing secretaries, drinking with the boys, and splurging on watches, golf, and new cars.

Today, Igarashi has a new identity (and plenty of company among young Japanese men) as one of the soushoku danshi—literally translated, "grass-eating boys." Named for their lack of interest in sex and their preference for quieter, less competitive lives, Japan's "herbivores" are provoking a national debate about how the country's economic stagnation since the early 1990s has altered men's behavior.

Newspapers, magazines, and television shows are newly fixated on the herbivores. "Have men gotten weaker?" was one theme of a recent TV talk show. "Herbivores Aren't So Bad" is the title of a regular column on the Japanese Web site NB Online.

In this age of bromance and metrosexuals, why all the fuss? The short answer is that grass-eating men are alarming because they are the nexus between two of the biggest challenges facing Japanese society: the declining birth rate and anemic consumption. Herbivores represent an unspoken rebellion against many of the masculine, materialist values associated with Japan's 1980s bubble economy. Media Shakers, a consulting company that is a subsidiary of Dentsu, the country's largest advertising agency,estimates that 60 percent of men in their early 20s and at least 42 percent of men aged 23 to 34 consider themselves grass-eating men. Partner Agent, a Japanese dating agency, found in a survey that 61 percent of unmarried men in their 30s identified themselves as herbivores. Of the 1,000 single men in their 20s and 30s polled by Lifenet, a Japanese life-insurance company, 75 percent described themselves as grass-eating men.

Japanese companies are worried that herbivorous boys aren't the status-conscious consumers their parents once were. They love to putter around the house. According to Media Shakers' research, they are more likely to want to spend time by themselves or with close friends, more likely to shop for things to decorate their homes, and more likely to buy little luxuries than big-ticket items. They prefer vacationing in Japan to venturing abroad. They're often close to their mothers and have female friends, but they're in no rush to get married themselves, according to Maki Fukasawa, the Japanese editor and columnist who coined the term in NB Online in 2006.

Grass-eating boys' commitment phobia is not the only thing that's worrying Japanese women. Unlike earlier generations of Japanese men, they prefer not to make the first move, they like to split the bill, and they're not particularly motivated by sex. "I spent the night at one guy's house, and nothing happened—we just went to sleep!" moaned one incredulous woman on a TV program devoted to herbivores. "It's like something's missing with them," said Yoko Yatsu, a 34-year-old housewife, in an interview. "If they were more normal, they'd be more interested in women. They'd at least want to talk to women."

It may be that Japan's efforts to make the workplace more egalitarian planted the seeds for the grass-eating boys, says Fukasawa. In the wake of Japan's 1985 Equal Employment Opportunity Law, women assumed greater responsibility at work, and the balance of power between the sexes began to shift. Though there are still significant barriers to career advancement for women, a new breed of female executive who could party almost as hard as her male colleagues emerged. Office lechery, which had been socially acceptable, became stigmatized as seku hara, or sexual harassment.

But it was the bursting of Japan's bubble in the early 1990s, coupled with this shift in the social landscape, that made the old model of Japanese manhood unsustainable. Before the bubble collapsed, Japanese companies offered jobs for life. Salarymen who knew exactly where their next paycheck was coming from were more confident buying a Tiffany necklace or an expensive French dinner for their girlfriend. Now, nearly 40 percent of Japanese work in nonstaff positions with much less job security.

"When the economy was good, Japanese men had only one lifestyle choice: They joined a company after they graduated from college, got married, bought a car, and regularly replaced it with a new one," says Fukasawa. "Men today simply can't live that stereotypical 'happy' life."
---------------- More art Link ----------------------------------------------------------------------Ryoma Igarashi likes going for long drives through the mountains, taking photographs... more

MotherForTruth
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4 months ago
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Prostate cancer strikes one in six men but gets very little funding for research

Here’s an important public service announcement from the Prostate Cancer... more

MotherForTruth
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5 months ago
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5 comments

Charlie Sheen settles over Two and a Half Men dismissal

Actor Charlie Sheen has settled a legal dispute with the makers of US sitcom Two and a... more

sitsi
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5 months ago
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Manly Men Unleashed!

Men acting all piratey...and manly, of course.... more

jmarkred
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Apparently, Men Are Finished - A MUST SEE

Abrams teamed with journalist Hanna Rosin of Slate and the Atlantic to argue for the proposition, "Men Are Finished." They squared off against American Enterprise Institute scholar Christina Hoff Sommers and Men's Health Editor in Chief Dave Zinczenko, who opposed the motion. ABC News Nightline Correspondent John Donvan moderated.

"Men are finished," is a bold claim—"preposterous," as Zinczenko scoffed repeatedly. Rosin and Abrams helped their cause early by defining victory down: They argued that "men are finished" did not mean complete and utter humiliation of the sex, but rather an end to male dominance. Rosin, the author of last summer's Atlantic cover story "The End of Men," used her opening statement to argue that men are through dominating because they've failed to adapt to a postmodern economy that places a higher premium on traditionally feminine attributes (consensus-building, social intuition, empathy, and communication skills). Men have narrow, inflexible ideas of what it means to be a man, and thus have pigeonholed themselves into dying industries. Women, on the other hand, are more flexible and malleable than ever before. There's "some special formula required for succeeding" today that women seem to have in greater abundance," Rosin said, while reeling off favorable statistics. In 2010, women became the majority of the workforce for the first time in American history. They now hold 54 percent of managerial jobs, and are set to dominate 13 of the 15 industries projected to grow the most in the next decade. They're more likely than men to receive a college degree. Meanwhile, one-fifth of men are out of work. And images of the "omega" male (imagine the slothlike, video-game entranced, drugged-up, potbellied guys you see in Judd Apatow movies) dominate movies and television shows. "We'd like you to think of this as the writing on the wall, the sign that points to an inevitable future," she asserted. "The world where men dominate the public sphere, and where male traits lead to public success is the world we're saying goodbye to."

Sommers, author of The War Against Boys, countered that the short-term trends we're seeing are signs of equalization, not dominance: Women are joining men, or even catching up to them, as partners in running the world. They are not surpassing them. She and Zinczenko both cited Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates as proof that we need men to drive innovation in fields like technology and science. And our civilization depends on the brawn and bravery of the men—"and some women"—who fight and die to protect us. "Toughness and assertiveness are obsolete—that's absurd!" she declared, referring to the idea that male traits aren't as crucial to the postindustrial economy.

Abrams, who is also the author of Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt that Women are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers and Just About Everything Else, highlighted a new study showing that female politicians are more far effective than men. So why aren't more women voted into office? He pointed to the paradoxical results of a survey that asked participants to rate whether they associated the eight most important political traits (intelligence, compassion, creativity, etc) with women or men. They associated seven of those positive traits with women. Yet only six percent said that women made better political leaders. It's a strange incongruity, Abrams admits, but it's one that will ultimately dissipate as the public becomes more aware of women's superior skills. "There is only so long men will be able to thrive, much less survive on the fumes of past sexism and assumptions."
Zinczenko, who maintains a well-known bromance with Abrams, began his argument not with statistics or studies, but with a sex joke. "Men can't possibly be finished because as all of you know, when men are finished, they roll over immediately and go to sleep. That's not happening. … They continue to do what they have always done…"
"Sleep!" yelled out a member of the audience.Abrams teamed with journalist Hanna Rosin of Slate and the Atlantic to argue for the... more

MotherForTruth
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5 months ago
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In A Relationship: Views of Romance

Men and women have different views of romance.

TonyDiGerolamo
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5 months ago
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3 comments

What’s the matter with Texas? (I think it has something to do with testosterone, but I’m not sure what…)

Before this trip, I don’t believe I had ever heard a radio advertisement for... more

hoosierdaddy
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5 months ago
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Honorable Chief Minister Mr. Modi on 3 days Fast.

Honorable Mr. Modi had planned to go on fast for three days from 17th September 2011.... more

RASRANA27
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5 months ago
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Discrimination against blacks, men or both?

ATLANTA (AP) - The retired NBA All-Star and a friend claim they were ousted from the... more

MotherForTruth
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5 months ago
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In A Relationship: Just A Little More Time

Some people just put off the best things in life.

TonyDiGerolamo
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5 months ago
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Bangor man's naked body was found bloody in the bathtub beaten and strangled by his wife in a fit of jealousy - she claims self-defence

Roxanne Jeskey, 48, enters the courtroom at Penobscot Judicial Center in Bangor for... more

MotherForTruth
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5 months ago
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6 comments

The new she is he

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-perspec-0828-profile-20110828,0,4609312.s... more

MotherForTruth
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5 months ago
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"A Letter to Women": Sexist Essay Strikes Debate at University of Richmond

BRENDAN RHATICAN would like women to preserve their chastity by sacrificing *gasp*... more

Jessica_Jaye_Mackinson
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5 months ago
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In A Relationship: You Had Your Chance

Men and women are attracted to each other during different times in their lives.

TonyDiGerolamo
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5 months ago
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1 comment

The New Rules of College Sex

How the federal government and a Malvern lawyer are rewriting the rules on campus hookups—and tagging young men as dangerous predators
By Sandy Hingston

Jack and Diane are at a party at their college. It’s September of their freshman year. They’re still excited about being away from home, on their own for the first time. They don’t know each other, but they’ve noticed one another, at orientation and in the dining hall.

Because they’re underage, they can’t drink at this party, but before she arrived, Diane “pre-gamed,” as the girls in her dorm call it—downing mixed drinks, doing gummy-worm and Jell-O shots. Jack had a few beers.

The liquor’s gone to Diane’s head. On the dance floor, she makes eye contact with Jack. He maneuvers his way toward her. She grabs him by the crotch, then whirls around and pushes against him, letting him grind away. Jack can’t believe it—she’s so pretty. She smells so good.

“I can’t hear myself think in here, it’s so loud!” he shouts into her ear.

She smiles at him. “What?”

“Too loud!” He takes her hand and leads her outside, into the autumn night. She looks at him expectantly. He puts his arms around her, pulling her close, and begins to kiss her. She drapes against him. He touches her breast, and when she doesn’t protest, does it again. He moves his hands to her rear, cupping her buttocks. She kisses him back, frantically eager. He reaches underneath her dress.

Jack doesn’t know it, but he’s just created what the Department of Education calls a “hostile environment” for women on his campus—a violation of Title IX for which his college could lose all federal funding. Should Diane press sexual assault charges against him with the school, he’ll be tried in a judicial hearing that fails to guarantee him the most basic American legal rights—the right to counsel, the right to confront his accuser, the right not to be convicted unless found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. He could well be expelled, and have a record that will hound him should he try to get into another school.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_new_rules_of_college_sex/?show_adHow the federal government and a Malvern lawyer are rewriting the rules on campus... more

MotherForTruth
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6 months ago
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In A Relationship: The Back Up

When meeting someone from the Internet, you want to take a back up in case your date... more

TonyDiGerolamo
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6 months ago
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The silent victims of rape

Hundreds of thousands of men have been raped by other men, but it is such a taboo... more

ekawaaz
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6 months ago
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In a Relationship: The Lies We Tell Ourselves

In a relationship, you can't even trust your own judgment sometimes.

TonyDiGerolamo
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6 months ago
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